Report on 'Army Movement' trashed, no breach of protocol

[LurkerBaba]

Thread continued from http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/...units-moved-towards-delhi-indian-express.html


Army movement: No protocol breach; news report trashed

NEW DELHI: A report that movement of two Army units towards Delhi on the night of January 16 set off alarm bells in government was swiftly and strongly denied although the sensational claims were the subject of animated discussion in official and political circles through the day.

In an unusual move, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself dismissed the report - rather than relying on official machinery - published in the Indian Express on Tuesday when he told mediapersons at a function that "these are alarmist reports, they should not be taken at face value."

While the Prime Minister took the report head on, defence minister A K Antony said claims about the government being 'spooked' were "baseless" and was at pains to stress that "Indian armed forces will do everything to strengthen our national interest and they will be part of our democratic government ... they will do nothing to undermine Indian democracy."

The Prime Minister also countered a question on the recent standoff with Army chief V K Singh, saying "the Army chief's office is an exalted office. All of us have an obligation to do nothing to lower its dignity."

The report said a unit of mechanized infantry from Hisar and a detachment of the 50 Para brigade from Agra had moved without notifying their movements in breach of protocol and this triggered a series of interventions. In the wake of General Singh's bitter row with the government over his date of birth, the report created a sensation.

A meeting of Parliament's standing committee on defence also discussed the report with MPs insisting previously scheduled business be set aside and vice chief of Army staff Lt Gen SK Singh and defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma respond to their queries.

Sharma categorically told the committee that there is no requirement for a notification ahead of the movement of military units during routine exercises. He also denied having to reach office late on January 16 night due to the allegedly alarming developments and said the report was "loose talk".

The suggestion that the troop movement coincided with Gen Singh filing a plea on his age issue before the Supreme Court also puzzled official sources who pointed out that the court was yet to deliver a verdict.

Army officers pointed a coup was unthinkable with just about 800 soldiers and pointed out that there were over 6,000 Army troops within the capital.

The defence ministry in a statement said "The points raised in the report have already been clarified by the Army... such exercises are conducted by the Army from time to time." Official sources also said claims of the PM being awoken or specifically alerted about the troop movements were incorrect and claimed the report suffered from several inaccuracies.

The Indian Express said central intelligence agencies reported an unexpected and non-notified movement of the two military units and that a "bemused establishment" alerted the minister of defence and the government put in motion a contingency plan. The newspaper issued a statement on Tuesday that it stood by its report.

The report said that the director general of military operations was asked for an explanation and instructed to send the units back immediately. The mechanized unit was parked at an industrial park near Bahadurgarh, while the Paras stayed put in the barracks of an artillery regiment near Palam.

Antony told the media that the country couldn't "take the luxury of having such controversies. Please protect the honour and dignity of our armed forces". The defence secretary said there was "no breach of protocol" and no requirement for the Army to notify the MoD about troop movements.

At the Army headquarters, Major General S L Narasimhan, additional director general, public information, said the troop movements "were routine training at formation level to check the effectiveness of mobilization as per standard operating procedure of the local formations.

Almost all units of the Army carry out a number of such training at different times of the year." He said such routine trainings "does not need authorization". Narasimhan added that once the "effectiveness of the mobilization was checked the troops were called back as per the Standard Operating Procedure."

Despite aggressive denials, some officers found that the movement of the two units towards New Delhi slightly unusual. In some Army quarters it was read as misplaced posturing by a "frustrated" General V K Singh, without any coup or takeover ever being considered but meant to coincide with the hearing of his age controversy."

The Times of India on Mobile

 

[sayareakd]

in Delhi, IA, has first strike force, unit of para at stone throwing distance from India Gate, not to forget all the soldiers and weapons for R-Day. News and what they are pointing is complete trash. Remember soldiers take oath of Constitution of India and not for service Chief. Paid up media has thrown trash, which is unacceptable and has crossed the limit.

 

[Ray]

So, we are back in a new avatar?

 

[Yusuf]

Guess who will have the best fun in the coming few days? Other newspapers. They will have a field day taking shots at Indian Express.

 

[Ray]

I am closing down and going to see the TV.


Some new nonsense will surface!

 

[nrj]

Unnecessary attempts to throw muck at govt, Army: Gen VK Singh

Why VKS is suddenly defending Govt in last few days.

Who are the unseen character villains we are missing?

 

[nrj]

Indian Civilian-Military Distrust is Nothing New

The Indian Express has reported that unexpected troop movements around Delhi, on the same January day that the army chief took his political masters to the Supreme Court, "spooked [the government] as never before in peace time."

What the report forgets is that civilian-military unease isn't a new phenomenon and certainly not an issue that only emerged after Gen. V.K. Singh began wrangling with the government over extending his tenure by a year to May 2013.

Civilian distrust of military intentions in India is as old as the republic, making The Indian Express's claim that this was the most serious alarm in Indian peacetime history seem fanciful to say the least.

In the 1950s, rumor of a coup – compounded by Gen. Ayub Khan's takeover in Pakistan – was one factor that prompted the elevation of Krishna Menon, a loyalist of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, to the position of defense minister. The Nehru government and its successors viewed military-to-military ties, particularly with the U.S., with great suspicion.

There are plenty of other examples of alarmism from the government about military intentions, most of them demonstrating not much more than civilian neuroses.

Stephen Cohen, a South Asia expert at the Brookings Institution, has noted that senior intelligence officials claimed to have detected at least three coup plots by generals in recent years, including one supposedly by General K. Sundarji in 1987.

"There is no credible evidence of such plots," Mr. Cohen writes, "but insecure politicians and bureaucrats, many of whom have a stereotyped image of the military, listen to these warnings."

And there have been moments of civilian-army tensions much more dramatic than the current episode.

In 1998, the government dismissed navy chief Adm. Vishnu Bhagwat after he refused to let the cabinet appoint his deputy. Anit Mukherjee, an authority on India's military, recounts the story:

"On December 30, 1998 the flag officer commanding-in-chief of India's southern naval command, Vice Admiral Sushil Kumar, was flown from his headquarters in Kochi to New Delhi in an aircraft operated by the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's intelligence agency. His mission was to replace Admiral Bhagwat who, unusually, was not aware that his flag officer had left his post. At 4.30 pm, Admiral Bhagwat was told by a ministry of defense official that he was being dismissed from his position, effective immediately "¦ Within 15 minutes, the new chief, Admiral Sushil Kumar, was given the oath of office. This was all a part of the plan, conceived and executed by a small circle of Indian politicians, bureaucrats, selected military officers and intelligence agencies. In fact, the other two service chiefs were not informed until the very last moment."

That certainly makes January's drama, as recounted by The Indian Express, seem rather tame.

As the paper concedes, the Defense Ministry's "considered view now seems to be that it was a false alarm" rather than anything resembling a coup.

Yet there are reasons to be concerned about the state of civilian-military ties in India as depicted by The Indian Express.

At the heart of this story are "sources [who] speak of confusion and unease in the government" about the military – unease that one would have thought redundant in a liberal democracy of sixty-five years.

For a start, the newspaper says the prime minister "was informed at the crack of dawn" about the troop movements. The Defense Secretary (the ministry's most senior bureaucrat) was summoned back from Malaysia, and he in turn summoned the Director General Military Operations.

The government also alerted lookouts on roads leading to Delhi — a protocol developed after the mutiny of some Sikh army units in 1984–and issued a terror alert to slow down traffic.

That the government moved to stop an army convoy in the environs of Delhi –whether the military was following protocol or not – appears to be evidence enough that Indian leaders remain unable to bring about a healthier institutional civilian-military relationship.

Despite exhortations from various high-level committees, successive Indian governments have shown themselves unwilling to reform the anachronistic system by which India's civilian leaders hold their armed forces at arm's length, separated by a thick bureaucratic buffer, soaked in mutual distrust.

A defense ministry better integrated with its service arms, one in which bureaucrats and senior officers engaged with one another on a more regular and extensive basis, would surely be less likely to panic – as it seems to have done – and less likely to leak out the details to a waiting press.

Indian Civilian-Military Distrust is Nothing New - India Real Time - WSJ

 

[Yusuf]

WTF, now they are going to instill fears and justify the fake news.. What is wrong with them.
Man get them all to stand in a line and....

 

[hit&run]

I think Army should make their fear into reality. Their properties should be confiscated and Swiss money should be brought in back at the gun point.

 

[Yusuf]

Journalism is sinking to newer lows and not from the usual culprits.

God, competition can make you do anything.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Journalism is sinking to newer lows and not from the usual culprits.

God, competition can make you do anything.

Money and Power rules..

WTF, now they are going to instill fears and justify the fake news.. What is wrong with them.
Man get them all to stand in a line and....Get a firing squad

X2 & Fixed..

 

[nrj]

We should not hesitate to admit the fact that civilian leadership who is supposed to be whole-n-sole power holder in this nation, could not maintain healthy relations with Army top brass. Its right there from Nehru era. However, it does not mean that this gap of proper sync translates into Army's political ambition or civilian's doubt over Armed forces.

This astute difference must be carefully understood.

If the liberal society is curious enough to discuss the national security issues pushing their imagination in every corner of absurdity then it is also an imperative to shed the primitive all-dimensionaly-round nature of their debate & come down to specifics finding clear distinction between fears and root-cause of chaos.

 

[sayareakd]

Things are starting to get ugly, if it continues at this rate, i am sure some one will take stupid action, from the looks of it that day (black day) is not too far.

 

[arya]

mod the thread should be closed now its an old story.

for the our force we must stop things here , nothing will come positive from the thread.

 

[arya]

I think Army should make their fear into reality. Their properties should be confiscated and Swiss money should be brought in back at the gun point.

you are talking bout Indian force they will never cross there limits democracy will be on top

 

[arya]

We should not hesitate to admit the fact that civilian leadership who is supposed to be whole-n-sole power holder in this nation, could not maintain healthy relations with Army top brass. Its right there from Nehru era. However, it does not mean that this gap of proper sync translates into Army's political ambition or civilian's doubt over Armed forces.

This astute difference must be carefully understood.

If the liberal society is curious enough to discuss the national security issues pushing their imagination in every corner of absurdity then it is also an imperative to shed the primitive all-dimensionaly-round nature of their debate & come down to specifics finding clear distinction between fears and root-cause of chaos.

well if force take power in hands the condition will not change , i don't think so human in force come from mars .

we are living in society and yes now our corruption level are increasing in every field.

 

[Bachchu Yadav]

Army needs lesson. Army chief should be sacked for leaking letter and Date of Birth drama.

 

[arya]

Army needs lesson. Army chief should be sacked for leaking letter and Date of Birth drama.

are you Indian or using false flag.

he is top chair person now and how dare to say that army need a lesson

because of army we are safe in home

 

[Bhadra]

Army needs lesson. Army chief should be sacked for leaking letter and Date of Birth drama.

Your name, flag and comments appear to be out of sync.... or may be innocent !

 

[Bhadra]

https://twitter.com/#!/Swamy39

Sekhar Gupt had four meetings with Chidamabaram in order to prepare the report says Swamy !!